The rapid technologic evolution taking place in the field of cellular radio mobile communications has led to the introduction of new functions in networks as well as in mobile user apparatuses.
For example, such new functions include point-to-multipoint radio broadcast transmission, hereafter referred to as broadcasting, of messages to all the terminals belonging to selected geographic areas, e.g. according to the criterion of selecting the cells of the radio mobile system where transmission must be carried out.
This type of messaging is currently widely used, for example, in the fields of accident prevention and disaster alerting (e.g. for earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, etc). It is therefore clear that the transmission network must be so structured as to ensure that messages of this type will reach as soon as possible all the users, or at least most of them, who are connected to the network in the geographic area selected for message transmission; also, messages must be quickly and correctly assimilated and understood by the users. It is also clear that mobile terminals must have such technical characteristics that allow them to properly receive and use said messages.
By way of example, we can mention the technologic evolution of cellular radio mobile communications brought about by the international standard universally known as 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project: http://www.3gpp.org).
The 3 GPP standard has introduced a messaging service for distributing alert messages to mobile terminals compatible with the LTE (Long Term Evolution), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) or GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standards.
These alert messages have such characteristics that allow them to contain information about imminent disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis and tornadoes, but they may also contain generic messages of various kinds, such as, for example, commercial messages or generic information of public interest.
As known, the above-mentioned transmission systems can utilize a channel called BCH (Broadcast Channel) for broadcasting messages that can be simultaneously received by all mobile terminals having appropriate technical characteristics and referring to those radio base stations from which said messages are being sent, which terminals are already available on the market.
Messages of this kind are handled by services implemented through known systems called ETWS (Earthquake Tsunami Warning System) and CMAS (Commercial Mobile Alert System), which utilize the BCH channel to send alert messages or commercial messages, while at the same time allowing messages to be broadcast in certain areas only by means of those radio base stations which provide coverage of the corresponding geographic areas.
Said messages are transmitted in one language only (which is not defined by the standard), which may be, for example, the official language of the country of the telephone company transmitting the messages and implementing the ETWS/CMAS system.
The transmission of messages in one language only, e.g. the local language, implies however the risk that some users, connected to the transmitting radio base stations, might not understand the message contents, e.g. because they are of a different nationality or they are not familiar with the language in use. There is therefore a risk that the messages might not be quickly and correctly assimilated and understood by the users, so that safety and protection of these people cannot be ensured.
It then becomes clear that there is a need for introducing new functionalities at network level and at mobile terminal level in order to give the possibility of quickly and correctly understanding said messages to all users referring to the radio base stations that are transmitting them.